The following link is to my groups presentation. We are presenting Stay on the Trail! We will talk about the effects on the environment, what problems can be fixed, and how students can be involved.
Pitch
For my proposal on what should be done at the Everett Casey Nature Reserve I will be pitching the idea of a soil erosion class. I will discuss the problems that the Casey Land is having with soil erosion, how a class can help solve these problems, and other benefits of a class at Iowa State.
Proposal
The Midwest is well-known for its agriculture. We supply the world with corn, beans, and fresh vegetables. We even raise cattle and sheep that provide with meat and dairy. Even though the Midwest is known for its farms, there is also a lot of wooded area. Many places like the Everett Casey Nature Reserve help keep trees and wildlife alive that are very important to our everyday lives. For example trees provide the oxygen essential for breathing. What happens if all that rich top soil disappears? The people of the Midwest need to educate people about soil erosion, how to fix it, and what kinds of places are in need of attention.
Soil erosion is harmful to the environment. It washes away top soil that is rich in nutrients needed for the growth of trees, plants, and crops. Without anything to hold the soil in place, the soil will be able to support vegetation. The greatest example of this is the Dust Bowl. During the Great Depression, wind blew away much of the top soil leaving only dust in its wake.
Small creek formed from erosion
Farmers were unable to grow crops and many lost their farms. Soil erosion has many causes but the main causes are water and wind. If we don’t use proper techniques to stop soil erosion, we are doomed to repeat history.
There are many different ways to avoid soil erosion such as planting vegetation, mulch and fertilizer, and retaining walls. Planting vegetation helps hold the soil together as kind of web of roots. Also, the thicker plants help lessen the impact of rain on the soil. Mulch and fertilizer are good for soaking up the excess water and provides the soil with necessary nutrients. Retaining walls act as sort of a buffer for soil. The walls will keep the soil in place by not allowing the water to wash away and allowing the soil to soak up the water. These are just a few techniques that can be used to prevent soil erosion.
The Everett Casey Nature Reserve is a beautiful piece of land, and because Iowa State University is a land-grant college the nature reserve is of huge value. The 76-acre piece of property is rather new to Iowa State and many are unsure about what to do with it. A few weeks ago, on March 29th, my English 150 class took a field trip out to the nature reserve. I noticed a lot of problems with erosion. If the problems with erosion aren’t addressed soon, the land will be unusable. But why just fix the problem when we can use this as a learning experience? Why not set up a class through Iowa State University? I propose a soil erosion prevention class using the techniques I talked about earlier. The problem of erosion will be taken care of and future generations of farmers and land owners will learn a valuable lesson. Once the class has been introduced, the land will be taken care of and more opportunities will arise for the property. More people will know about the land and a larger demand to use the land will ensue from more student ideas and proposals.
Retaining Wall
Now that we know what soil erosion is and how we can fix it, we need to spread the word. Preventing soil erosion is very important, especially to farming communities. We don’t want another Dust Bowl, do we? The Everett Casey Nature Reserve is important to the Ames community and one day will provide fun, leisure, and beauty to all of the surrounding communities.
The Midwest has always been the staple for agriculture. There is everything from hay, cows, corn, even small gardens in the back of people’s yards. What makes the Midwest a great place for farms? The rich top soil in the Midwest is great for crops and farm animal to thrive and grow. What would happen if that great top soil disappeared?Soil erosion has always been a problem. Whether its farming or even a small creek slowly washing away at the sides of the creek bed it is taking precious soil and the soil is becoming less and less fertile.
If you follow my blog at all, lately I have been talking about the Everett Casey Nature Reserve and the problems they have been facing with soil erosion. Soil erosion is also creating other problems, such as, not being able to put in a more stable bridge for the creek because of the erosion to the creek walls. So, how does the Everett Casey Nature Reserve people go about this problem? There are many different ways to prevent and reverse soil erosion. Some are easy and some are more complex. Below is listed is a bibliography of some of the resources that I have found helpful about soil erosion and conservation.
Al-Kaisi, Mahdi. “Soil Erosion: An Agricultural Production Challenge.” Integrated Crop Management. Integrated Corp Management, n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2014.
Overview of soil erosion and different types. Briefly discusses soil erosion prevention.
“Conservation | USDA.” Conservation | USDA. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Apr. 2014.
Discusses how the government is working with landowners to promote land conservation. Talks about the USDA working with the Environmental Protection Agency and possible grants for soil conservation.
“Erosion Control Products & Information.” Granite Environmental. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2014.
Talks about products used for soil erosion prevention and discusses the causes of soil erosion.
“Iowa State Project Aims to Reduce Major Cause of Soil Erosion on Iowa Farm Fields | College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.” Iowa State Project Aims to Reduce Major Cause of Soil Erosion on Iowa Farm Fields | College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. N.p., 15 Jan. 2014. Web. 09 Apr. 2014.
New project at Iowa State that uses ephemeral gullies instead of permanent gullies.
“Landscape Maintenance – Soil Erosion Prevention.” Landscapeplanet. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2014.
Has different soil erosion prevention methods.
The Everett Casey Nature Reserve
Imagine yourself standing in a flat grass field next to a small creek. There are trees all around you, some gentle giants swaying in the wind and some lying on the ground, small animals making them there home. Now imagine the soil that you were standing on has disappeared and you are now wading in the creek. The water from the creek was slowly taking away the sides of the bank until the creek turns into a river. Where there had been rich top soil, there is now dry and rocky bedrock. How did this happen? Erosion is a common problem in Iowa, especially with farmers trying to hold onto that precious top soil.
On March 29, 2014, a group of students from English 150 class went out to the Everett Casey Nature Reserve in Boone County, Iowa. The 76-acre piece of land was given to the Iowa State MFA program in Creative Writing and Environment by Everett Casey. Everett graduated from the Iowa State Engineering program in 1946. The MFA program has had the land for five years and has done some minor projects on the land and are currently looking for more ideas. Our class field trip to the reserve was scheduled so that we students could get a look at the land and try to come up with proposals of our own.
When we began our descent into a patch of cedar trees, I noticed that the trail was almost too difficult to walk down. The land suffered dearly from soil erosion, because years ago the land had cattle on it and the cattle had changed the surface of the land so much that the top soil had begun to erode away. As we walked further into the woods, our tour guide pointed out a very tiny stream that had just recently came about. This little stream, also cause by soil erosion, was about a foot wide and could have only been about six inches deep. I began to think that erosion had been a problem for them and that if they didn’t figure out a way to reverse it they were going to be in trouble.
Why should Iowa State’s students care about the problems of the nature reserve? Iowa State is one of the land-grant colleges, which means that along with the classical studies that most schools have, Iowa State also focuses on agriculture and was granted acres from the government to build its institution on. The nature reserve can help Iowa State University because of its 76-acres of beautiful land that can be used for research, educational purposes, or even agricultural benefits. It could even hold all three and many other possibilities. Iowa State has had many other pieces of land, such as the Iowa State Arboretum. The Arboretum was given to Iowa State years ago and now seems to be nothing but a trash pit. Wasting land gifted to the University is a disgrace in itself.
Now picture yourself back in the same woods you were standing in before. There is a cool breeze rustling the leaves on the trees, you can hear the trickling of a creek nearby. Only this time you are not standing in the creek. The erosion problem has been fixed and the creek is no longer washing away the banks. You run your fingers through the rich top soil that had once been washed away by the rains. Now all that is left is a beautiful piece of land where nature can live and the community can watch.
Students attempt to cross a small rock bridge
The small piece of farmland inside the Casey Reserve
Pre-Writing/Web Rove
I recently took a class field trip to the Everett Casey Nature Reserve for my Eng. 150 class. The weather was warm and sunny with a slight breeze. So far, the only structures on the land are a porta potty and what appeared to be a little tool shed. We had two tour guides to lead us around the land. We learned some of the things they have done and what they were trying to do to the land. Overall I enjoyed the hike and thought of some ideas about what they could do with the land.
Once we started hiking, I noticed that the land suffered from erosion and some of the trails were difficult to walk on because of the slope. When we got to flat land you could see a little creek, lots of trees, and plenty of open spaces. I enjoy the woods. You can go hunting, camping, or just go for a walk to relax. Since this is a reserve there is no hunting and you need permission to go camping.
Everett Casey, an Iowa State graduate, donated the land to the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program in Creative Writing and Environment for educational purposes about five years ago. I like that the lands were donated for educational purposed and were meant to be preserved. Wooded areas like the Everett Casey Nature Reserve are important in today’s world because of the rising of urban areas being built, places like this are becoming fewer and fewer. I think that Iowa State can use this land for education while keeping the integrity of the land intact, maybe even improve it.
Web Rove
I chose this site because the Chicago Wilderness Alliance has over 300 organizations that help people of all ages get involved with nature and are helping the environment. I think it has a lot of good ideas for other Nature Reserves to do.
I think a wilderness survival class would be important to not only Iowa State students but to the surrounding communities as well. Many people enjoy hiking or camping in the wilderness and would find this type of information useful.
Like I said before, as we were hiking through the woods, I noticed a lot of soil erosion. A soil erosion prevention class would help the Casey land and spread the word about ways to prevent soil erosion.
The MFA program at Iowa State has bee hives out on the Casey Land. They use these to help pollinate and also have Bee keeping classes. I think this is a good idea and the program should try to introduce the class to more students.
Gardens teach people how to grow their own food and how to be self sustaining. Also you could have a flower garden to help keep the bees close!
SPP Reflection
The Student Publication Project was a project for English 150. At first I thought I wasn’t going to get anything out of this assignment and the thought of writing about some small time magazine at a college did not appeal to me at all. This project has surprised me in many ways and has helped me improve my writing skills and techniques. I was part of a group that focused on the magazine, Uhuru. My first opinion of the magazine was a multi-cultural, freedom magazine. After reading the magazine, I discovered that the topics they wrote about were very Midwestern and were very biased. Although I enjoyed the articles I read, I didn’t think that the magazine went with its “mission statement”. Throughout the semester we have done four major assignments, an analysis paper, a profile paper, a visual, and an oral presentation.
Our first major assignment for the project was an Analysis Paper. Before this class I had not written many analysis papers and found this assignment to be the most difficult. I was very unsure of my writing and I did not know how to approach the assignment. I chose an article to analyze that I could easily relate too. This made the paper somewhat easier to write. I got a lot of good feedback from my peer review and from my teacher. This paper helped me to identify my strengths and weakness in writing. The next big assignment was a Profile Paper. I chose to write this paper over the author of the article I analyzed, because I thought it would have a good flow for my blog. To complete this paper I had to perform an interview. I did not have the chance to do the interview in person, but instead sent the questions through email. I got a very quick and detailed response and was able to write an accurate profile. I think my writing improved from my analysis paper and was able to use revising techniques I had learned in class. My last two major assignments went very well together. We were required create a visual and then chose one of our assignments to present to the class. For my visual I created a video and because I enjoyed creating the video, I decided to present on my visual. The visual for me was the most interesting part of the project. Not only did I get to do something new with creating a video online, but I also got to see how everyone else in the class decided to portray there student publication.
I have learned a lot with this project and have improved my writing and blogging skills. I enjoyed this project a lot more than I thought I would. I did not realize how many student publications there were and how hard students work on their publications. I think that student publications are an interesting way for students to discuss topics in today’s world that interest them. Overall I enjoyed the project and the people I got to work with throughout the semester and I am looking forward to the next one.
Presentation
The following is a link to my presentation.
Visual
For my visual I decided to create a video. I created a video on Animoto.com. This is the first video I’ve ever done and I hope you enjoy watching it!!
Watch the Video here – Uhuru Video
Web Rove
This is a “slideshow” video on the effects of the tornadoes in Moore, OK. The video is mostly devastating photos of the disaster that happened with a short informational text about donations to the Red Cross. I think that for the the purposes of this video, just the photos are good enough, but I think a little more information about what happened and where your money is going would make this video better in the sense that the viewers more interested.
This is an informational video about Combat Engineer training. I think this is a good video because it has good slides and good information. There is no visual text which allows the viewers to focus on the video while the narrator gives the viewer the information through audio.
American Dance Therapy Association
I had never heard of this organization before I found this video. The video did a very good job of displaying the information and photos in a certain order so that they went together and was easy to follow. One thing I think they can do to help improve their delivery is to not use one word per slide towards the end. I think they could maybe make a list or add more words to the slides.
This video has a lot of information, almost too much information. The slides have tons of reading and there is almost no pictures. Even though this video is obviously meant for educational purposes, the slides were boring and the music made me want to fall asleep. The video does not do a very good job of grabbing the audiences opinion and is basically the exact same throughout the entire video.
This video talks about history artifacts. The video does a good job with interesting information and a variety of photos. The text in the video was very plain and not well worded and I thought they could have added a lot more information and photos rather than leaving the video at only a minute long. I think they did good by using both a narrator and text because it allows the audience to decide on what it would like to focus on more.
Scott Lindley's Blog: Writings from Ames 